Beef Stroganoff

Beef Stroganoff
Home Cooking



This post does nothing to dispel any notion that my food cravings come solely from MasterChef. Yes, there was a stroganoff challenge and yes, that's why we ended up making this. In an effort to reclaim some kind of independence, I'll say that we didn't follow the recipe on the MasterChef website but did our own thing instead.

The basic components of a strog are beef and mushrooms and the sauce is finished off with a sour cream. Aside from that, it's open to interpretation. The show featured beef that was coated in flour and paprika. I had paprika but stupidly forgot to bring it so we went without.

Basic Beef Stroganoff
Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 600g beef fillet
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 200g mushrooms, sliced
• salt and pepper to serve
• chili powder (optional)
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1/2 can of condensed tomato soup (use 2 tbsp tomato paste if you have that)
• 200g sour cream (I suggest you stir in less than this to begin with)
• steamed rice or to serve with
• chives, to garnish

Procedure:

1. Trim the beef to rid of really fatty/gristly areas. Cut into chunks and season with salt and pepper.2. Seal the beef on high heat with some oil in a large frying pan. Add the onion and cook until browned. Add the mushrooms.3. Lower the heat and add the stock and tomato soup. Simmer until the beef is cooked.4. Add the sour cream and stir through the sauce. Season to your liking.5. Serve with steamed rice and a garnishing of chives.


Pouring in the whole tub of sour cream was a bit of an 'omg' moment. After it was all mixed through, the sauce lightened significantly and well, you could really taste the sour cream. I didn't mind so much because I have somewhat of a soft spot for sour cream being smooshed through sauce. Byron complained that it was sour cream overkill. Maybe that is so for normal palates... so let that be a warning: go easy.


Otherwise, this was an awesome winter dish and I hear the leftovers were even better. We had it with rice but strog is often served with pasta.